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Latest market news

BASF FM on alcoholates to hit EU biodiesel output

  • Market: Biofuels
  • 10/08/21

A fire at German chemicals company BASF's Ludwigshafen plant in Germany resulting in reduced deliveries of alcoholates could severely restrict European biodiesel production, according to market participants.

BASF has declared force majeure on the supply of sodium methylate, potassium methylate and sodium ethylate solutions and crystals from the Ludwigshafen plant. The plant experienced "severe damage" after a fire on 7 August according to a letter from BASF to customers, seen by Argus.

Products under force majeure such as sodium methylate and potassium methylate are used as catalysts in the production of biodiesel. BASF is a key supplier of these alcoholates for European producers, according to those in the market.

BASF expects damage caused by the fire to "significantly impact" production and its ability to supply agreed-upon volumes for "at least several months". The force majeure declaration also applies to BASF affiliates that deliver alcoholates to customers.

By Giulia Squadrin

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15/12/25

EU to dilute Ice vehicle phase out: German lawmaker

EU to dilute Ice vehicle phase out: German lawmaker

Brussels, 15 December (Argus) — The European Commission is likely this week to dilute its plan to phase out sales of new internal combustion engine (Ice) vehicles by 2035, according to a lawmaker. "The ban on internal combustion engines is history," said Manfred Weber, the chair of parliament's largest centre-right group EPP. He said the commission will present on 16 December an automotive package that "will revise the CO2 standards for cars, reversing the disastrous ban on internal combustion engines". Weber is a member of Germany's CDU/CSU party, as is commission president Ursula von der Leyen. German chancellor Friedrich Merz has called on the EU to allow the sale of vehicles with highly efficient combustion engines, plug-in hybrids and range-extender EVs beyond 2035. This had faced pushback, with more than 150 European e-mobility firms requesting the commission "stand firm" on its 2035 target. An EU official said the target is now likely to be for a 90pc GHG reduction from 2035 for new vehicles. "As it stands the targets for 2030, but also 2035, are not realistic," said Sigrid de Vries, director general of the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). "Even with a 90pc target [for reducing GHG by 2035], make no mistake, that will be very, very challenging." The European motor industry has already flagged the possibility of huge fines for manufacturers should they fail to meet existing emissions targets, which are for a 15pc reduction by 2029 compared with a 2021 baseline, and a 55pc reduction from the same baseline in 2030-34. By Dafydd ab Iago Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Viewpoint: Indonesian waste oil supply to fall in 2026

15/12/25
News
15/12/25

Viewpoint: Indonesian waste oil supply to fall in 2026

Singapore, 15 December (Argus) — Indonesia's implementation of a 50pc biodiesel (B50) blend mandate and ongoing palm plantation seizures may raise palm oil prices and reduce global waste oil supply, likely keeping palm oil mill effluent (Pome) oil prices supported in 2026. The country raised its biodiesel blend target by 5pc to 40pc starting from February 2025 and is targeting another 10pc increase to 50pc by the second half of 2026 . The higher blending mandate would lower total palm oil exports by about 11-12pc in 2026 compared with 2024 and 2025, Indonesian agriculture ministry official Baginda Siagan said at the 21st Indonesian palm oil conference (IPOC2025) in November. This would likely support an increase in crude palm oil (CPO) prices, industry analysts said. Prices of CPO and palm-based waste oil like Pome oil are linked because market participants historically priced Pome oil at a set discount to CPO values, and they are both feedstocks for biofuel production. But waste oil export values have mostly been at a premium to CPO this year due to Indonesia's move to suspend exports of unprocessed Pome oil and used cooking oil (UCO) since 8 January , tightening the global supply of waste oils. Indonesia has yet to resume issuing export permits. The restrictions have since driven exporters to explore refining Pome oil for exports. Refined Pome oil exports totalled 440,000t in January-November, according to Kpler data. No refined Pome oil was shipped in 2024 prior to the export pause because exporters directly shipped unrefined material. Refined Pome oil has lower metals and impurities than unprocessed material and can be used for hydrotreating to produce hydrotreated vegetable oil or hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids synthetic paraffinic kerosene (HEFA-SPK) with less processing than crude Pome oil. Argus launched the refined Pome oil fob Indonesia assessment on 15 October to reflect the value in this emerging export market, and it has since been priced above rival regional biofuels feedstock assessments. Indonesia's export pause was a key factor driving up waste oil prices in the region to three-year highs in September ( see chart ). The duration of Indonesia's ban on crude Pome oil and UCO exports remains uncertain, but the government may be tempted to maintain restrictions to keep more feedstocks available to expand domestic biofuels production. This would continue to limit seaborne supply and support prices on a fob basis. Speaking at IPOC2025, Indonesia's palm plantation fund (BPDP) head suggested exploring alternative waste feedstocks such as UCO for use in the B50 programme to reduce Indonesia's reliance on CPO as biodiesel feedstock. State-owned Pertamina is already trialling sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production through co-processing UCO at its Cilacap refinery since the second quarter of 2025, and shipped about 32,000 litres of UCO-based HEFA-SPK in its first shipment in August . The country is targeting the production of 1mn kilolitres/yr SAF by 2030 . Plantation seizures may squeeze CPO output Palm oil production in Indonesia may be squeezed by the government's ongoing efforts to reclaim plantation lands it said were illegally acquired this year. The Indonesian government in January formed a forestry task force for this purpose and reclaimed over 3.3mn hectares of plantation land by August, according to its website. The land will be transferred to and managed by state-owned Agrinas Palma Nusantara, which was set up in February to oversee the confiscated land. Agrinas has been recruiting staff to operate its plantation business but the availability of harvesters still poses a challenge, it said in a press release on 1 December. Many in the sector expect the change in land management to reduce plantation efficiency starting in 2026. But the extent of yield and production losses caused by the land seizures remains uncertain, said industry analyst Thomas Mielke at IPOC2025. He estimated palm oil output in the country may decline to 49mn t in 2026 from 49.4mn t in 2025. Ministry officials at IPOC2025 did not comment on the ongoing palm plantation seizures. The collection and export of Pome oil from mills may also fall on the back of fewer fresh fruit bunches harvested from oil palm plantations due to the land seizures. Less CPO available for processing into palm olein for domestic cooking oil could also cause UCO supply to shrink. Traceability concerns continue to threaten demand Meanwhile, concerns surrounding Pome oil traceability have continued among European buyers this year, prompting some EU Member States including Portugal , Germany and Ireland to disincentivise Pome oil usage in their biofuels mandates. Most recently in October, the Dutch emissions authority (NEa) said that it will investigate the international Pome oil supply chain with a focus on "fraud risk", and that any findings could be used in policy recommendations. European Pome oil demand is currently expected to remain stable in the near-term at around 1.9mn t/yr, according to Argus Analytics, but removal of policy support by more markets in the new year could tip the balance. Higher demand for Annex IX Part A feedstocks under the RED III may drive other EU countries to absorb Pome oil volumes diverted from markets that have chosen to disincentivise the feedstock by removing it from the classification. By Malcolm Goh Asian waste oil prices ($/t) Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Commodity rail shippers push for more train data

11/12/25
News
11/12/25

Commodity rail shippers push for more train data

Houston, 11 December (Argus) — Industrial shippers of commodities like grain and petrochemicals want federal regulators to widen the scope of proposed rules that would require Class I railroads to report more data on their on-time service performance. US rail regulator the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in September put the industry on notice that it intends to issue rules to require that each of the six biggest railroads, including Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, report two new categories of performance data to the agency. The first would benchmark railroads' shipments against their original estimated time of arrival (OETA) and the second would measure "industry spot and pull" data, or ISP, to determine whether shipments are picked up and delivered within their planned service window. The board action aims to address rail shippers' long-running concerns that unpredictable rail service is a wild card in their supply chains, as many shippers rely nearly completely on rail to get their goods to market. The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), an industry group that lobbies for US refiners and petrochemical manufacturers, applauded the STB for working to address "chronic freight rail service failures." The OETA is meant to track a carrier's targeted arrival time when it dispatches a cargo and then flag the percentage of weekly shipments that reach their destinations no later than 24 hours after an intended target, the STB said in its proposal. The AFPM, whose members include companies like Dow, Occidental Chemical and Ineos who collectively ship about 2.5mn carloads a year, said OETA data should be broken out by region, terminal, and corridor "to reveal localized bottlenecks often masked by system averages." As proposed, the STB's OETA measurement would apply to manifest train service, where trains haul an assortment of railcar types, and not to unit trains, which exclusively haul one railcar type or bulk commodity, such as coal, grain or crude. Grain shippers and the US Department of Agriculture disagreed with the STB's decision to exclude unit train shipments from the OETA measurement. The National Grain and Feed Association, whose members include Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and other biofuels makers, said that late unit train deliveries of commodities like grain, ethanol or coal "can result in proportionally greater harm to the shipper/receiver" than smaller manifest shipments. The USDA agreed that unit train shipments should be included in the OETA measurement, and pointed out that about 75pc of US railed corn and soybean shipments in 2023 traveled in trains hauling more than 75 railcars, which would not be captured by manifest shipment data. Demand for agricultural products is highly seasonal, and missed delivery windows "can halt processing lines, disrupt export programs, and force shippers to carry excess private car inventory to buffer uncertainty," the agency said. The Association of American Railroads (AAR), which lobbies on behalf of Class I railroads, pushed back on industry requests to widen the OETA to include unit train shipments, and told the STB that several railroads do not currently generate the metrics. Adding the reporting requirements "would add regulatory burden, waste resources, and misrepresent service on the network," the AAR said. By Chris Baltimore Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Japanese, Chinese firms partner on marine biodiesel

11/12/25
News
11/12/25

Japanese, Chinese firms partner on marine biodiesel

Tokyo, 11 December (Argus) — Japanese shipping firm Mitsui OSK Lines (Mol), trading house Marubeni and Chinese state-controlled fuel supplier Sinopec Zhejiang Zhoushan Petroleum have signed an initial agreement to establish a long-term supply chain for marine biodiesel. Sinopec and Marubeni will ensure a stable supply of biodiesel and develop infrastructure infrastructures including ports to store, deliver and supply the fuel, Mol said said on 11 December. Meanwhile, the Japanese shipping firm will use the biodiesel that Sinopec and Marubeni procure in China. China is a key supplier of biodiesel feedstocks, and Marubeni holds the largest share in marine fuel sales to Japanese shipowners in China, Mol said. Biodiesel is a "drop-in" fuel, which is compatible with existing engines on vessels. Mol considers biodiesel as key to significantly cutting CO2 emissions, given that it aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its transportation by 45pc in 2035 compared with 2019 levels, before achieving net-zero emissions in 2050. By Kohei Yamamoto Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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US fuel groups eye compromise in E15 talks

10/12/25
News
10/12/25

US fuel groups eye compromise in E15 talks

New York, 10 December (Argus) — Major US fuel groups agree on the framework for a bill that would authorize a higher ethanol blend in gasoline and revamp a separate program requiring biofuel blending. But there is more work ahead before a final deal can be reached, sources told Argus . The American Petroleum Institute withdrew support earlier this year for a slimmer bill allowing year-round sale of gasoline blends with 15pc ethanol (E15), kickstarting a new round of negotiations. The group has since been pitching the White House and biofuel groups on a larger bill that would both allow E15 and restrict small refiners' ability to skirt biofuel quotas. The oil group, ethanol advocates and fuel retailers last week publicly endorsed the general framework of a bill to allow year-round E15 and limit small refinery blending exemptions, and negotiations are ongoing. The issue has the attention of President Donald Trump, who asked a farmer at a White House event this week if E15 would be "a big deal". The US requires oil companies to annually blend biofuels, while allowing small refiners to seek hardship exemptions. Sales of ethanol blends above 10pc are limited in the summer due to smog rules. Whether the groups can compromise and persuade Congress to act will shape crop demand, biofuel production margins and retail fuel prices in the coming years. Past proposals to legalize E15 year-round, a longtime priority for the ethanol industry, have failed. The idea The American Petroleum Institute's pitch for reining in exemptions is to reduce the number of eligible companies and to make it harder for them to prove distress, according to five people familiar with the group's lobbying. A Trump administration plan that would require refiners without exemptions to blend more biofuels to compensate for refiners with exemptions has raised the stakes of the debate and riled larger oil companies. The oil group has floated restricting exemptions to companies with limited collective refining capacity, excluding larger enterprises like Delek that own multiple smaller units. The group has also proposed scrapping a Department of Energy hardship scoring system that has yielded unpredictable results over the years and that a 2022 Government Accountability Office study found was "critically flawed". Instead, refiners would have to prove that hardship stems directly from the biofuel program, and regulators could offer "proportional" exemptions based on the evidence, three of the people said. The US currently waives either all or half of the blend mandates for refiners that prove hardship. The Trump administration this year granted dozens of requests for exemptions from prior-year mandates, and more petitions are pending. More work ahead While these ideas address longstanding concerns from biofuel and crop groups that waivers curb demand for their products, the American Petroleum Institute also wants to permanently bar regulators from requiring other oil companies offset biofuel volumes lost to exemptions — a tougher sell in the Farm Belt. Another concern is timing. The American Petroleum Institute initially pushed for the exemption changes and ban on redistributing biofuel obligations to take effect next year. But some energy lobbyists want a delay until 2028, fearing that immediate changes could delay the Trump administration's work to finalize new biofuel blend mandates, three people said. New quotas for 2026 and 2027 are already late. Oil interests outside the American Petroleum Institute could also push back if negotiations advance. Refiners so far have been divided. Some want to protect their ability to win lucrative exemptions, while others have long taken issue with special rules for their competitors and hotly oppose Trump's plan to make them blend more biofuels to compensate. Even if the groups reach a deal, convincing Congress is its own challenge. An E15 proposal last year was pulled out of a larger spending package at the last minute , and farm-state lawmakers have been unsuccessful more recently in their efforts to add E15 to a defense bill. One option lobbyists have eyed is adding any new E15 agreement to legislation to fund the government after 30 January. The Renewable Fuels Association, which represents ethanol producers, said that it "continues to have serious discussions with multiple stakeholder groups and we are encouraged by the progress of those conversations". The American Petroleum Institute and ethanol industry group Growth Energy declined to comment. The Environmental Protection Agency said it is "committed to strengthening American energy security and supporting American farmers" but noted that changing rules around E15 and small refinery exemptions "requires an act of Congress". It is not clear how much more ethanol drivers would burn if the US permitted year-round E15. Most gas stations do not currently offer the blend, which advocates blame on regulatory hurdles deterring retailers from investing in new infrastructure. Rising vehicle fuel efficiency and electric vehicle sales have also cut into liquid fuel demand. By Cole Martin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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